บท 9: The Punishment

The werewolves

It had been years since the attack on the castle, and as expected, nothing was going right with the wolves. Everything seemed to take a turn for the worst, but they hoped everything would be okay deep down. They hoped that life was never truly cruel to a whole race.

They hoped.

There was still hope.

There was still some positivity surrounding the throne room.

Many said their heirs would come back for it, while some were not even sure of where the heirs were.

Many could feel the pull to their king and queen, but it was not as strong as it should have. But at least now they were aware that their leaders were not dead.

The hope of a reunion kept the werewolf kingdoms alive. The packs were hopeful even though most of the packs had been reduced to three hundred members from thousands and thousands.

The packs were the symbol of werewolf unity, but then with everything that had happened, no one was to be blamed. The rogue attacks were constant on the packs over the years, but none more than the dark moon and the blood moon packs.

These two packs were responsible for producing their heir and the heiresses of the great throne. With them destroyed, the competitors would have an easier time working through the almost faded competition.

The two packs were highly protected, but that didn't stop the pack members from voluntarily leaving the pack's life.

That didn't stop them from abandoning their responsibilities as a pack.

Eventually, the two packs were extinct.

Completely gone, and there were no traces of the members of that pack. Well, they knew each other, but they were not ready to commit to a life without a leader. This life was better than the one that they had been living anyway.

At least with all of them living as rogues, they could fight back and be safe from everyone who wanted them dead. They had to ensure their lineages were protected. They had to ensure the safety of their families.

The alphas family had died during the attack years ago, and that only left the betas in charge. Even with their betas in charge, the packs should have been stronger. The families should have stayed committed to each other. But that ever meant that they were bound by anything.

After all, at the moment, they were safer than ever before. The gates to the castle were closed off. The kingdom was almost extinct itself.

Werewolves preferred to live everyday boring human lives even though they missed the lives they had lived before. They missed running in the woods. Granted, their lives as humans were incredibly dull, but they preferred to be safe than sorry.

They preferred to be there to witness the changes that were promised would happen than to sacrifice their lives for a cause they no longer believed in. The moon goddess was distraught at the lives her people were living, but she was going to put up with it.

She knew that the heirs were growing daily, and she knew she would get them together again. After all, it was apparent that the people would come back home when the true king and queen returned.

They would feel the irresistible pull to come back and live in the kingdom with their luna, and the alpha king would be too intense that no one would ever rest.

It was like the mate pull, the kind that binds one man to another, one woman to another, one man to twin mates, one woman to twin mates, and so on. The pull demanded to be respected, and not even the most muscular werewolf could be able to resist the mate pull. That would be a waste of time.

The same was applicable with the alpha and luna pull. Even though the alphas and lunas of the different packs were to keep their packs safe, they were subconsciously dependent on their true rulers. They would only be able to assure their people if there were people that would be there overlooking the home.

It was like a family without a father and mother. Eventually, the siblings would feel overwhelmed and be tempted to give up on each other even though they would always be bound by blood and always come back home.

Despite where they went, the siblings would always come back to each other; after all, the family was family at the end of everything. This was the logic that the moon goddess was testing. Whether or not her children would be able to commit to each other truly.

It was something that she was banking on.

She wanted them to come together of their own volition. She didn't want to punish them so severely that their only choice would be to come together.

During all those years alone, they could transform as they wanted. They would all be forced back into their actual forms on the full moon, but that was nature. That was them being themselves. That was a reality they would never be able to escape.

It always needed a pack complete, but they would survive without the pack and even the rogues. They had to survive the transformation. Only that this time, it was harsher.

The pain that they never experienced during the transformation into their true selves would be exhibited. That was the punishment, but then that kept them closer to home. None of them would ever be able to go farther from home or even abroad and away from their people.

No one wanted to know how the transformation would hurt, it was hurting them so much, and they were close to each other, just not linked as always. They were never going to run away from their true selves, and even though they were too stubborn to g back, they knew that it was almost time.

After all, in the next two weeks, they would be feeling the eighteenth pain of losing their leaders.

Or the relief.

Just maybe.